Prelude to War
by Chemical Access
Summary: Lucy's childhood was rougher than anyone had ever known. When she ran away it was for the better but when her father uses brutal methods to bring her back, her friends show him what a real family looks like.


**Look look I started another story. Seeing as I've gotten back into Fairy Tail it got me in the mood to write. Not entirely sure if it's going to be a full on story or a long one shot but we'll see.**

**Uuuuh I feel like I should have something else to say about this but, oh wait- I wish I owned Fairy Tail but I don't so instead I have to download it because I'm too cheap to buy it.**

**Here's chapter one. Enjoy!**

* * *

July 7th in the year X777; the day when Igneel and all the other dragons seemingly disappeared. Coincidentally it was also the day Lucy's life changed with the death of her mother. Her death caused a major change in the Heartfilia household. Even though the death of her mother brought sadness Lucy had slight hope that it would bring her and her father closer together but in fact it did the opposite.

It was no secret among the servants that they never really had a good relationship in the first place but the death of Layla only seemed to make it worse. Lucy couldn't even say good morning to him without being yelled at and when she didn't greet him she got yelled at. She used to just stay in her room all day and refuse to leave but she couldn't stand the servants getting reprimanded in her place. The only days of peace she got was when her father had to leave the house for work.

It continued like that for years. The yelling got louder and her father rougher and pretty soon Lucy had to think of excuses for why her face was red and a bit swelled. It started with simple things like when she was asked a question and he didn't get the answer he wanted then it descended to horribly petty things like she woke up a few minutes late or he didn't like the clothes she was wearing or the way she looked at him.

Waking up every day seemed like a punishment. Lucy didn't want to be with her father let alone look at him. As soon as he entered the same room she froze, terrified that if she made a move he didn't like she would be punished for it. She used to have a bit more confidence when there were servants in the room but now it didn't seem to matter if anyone saw him do it. She didn't want this life and she knew her mother wouldn't want it for her either. She was tired of living in constant fear and pain so she did the only thing she could think of to make it stop; she ran.

She didn't like the thought of leaving the servants with him but she didn't have any other choice. It's not like she could get a police officer and report him. He was one of the richest men in Fiore and would definitely find a way to get out of it. So she just left without a word to anyone because she knew that if she had told even one of the servants there and they didn't report it to her father they would be dealt with in a brutal matter.

Time went on and Lucy soon found herself with a new life and friends in Magnolia's number one guild and quickly forgot about the old one because in this one it wasn't a punishment to wake up every day and the pain she felt was the result of a successful job with her friends and not of a fellow family member. There was nothing about it she would change if given the chance.

The days went on like they always did; Gray and Natsu fighting and starting a full on brawl throughout the guild and Makarov complaining about how they had just gotten it repaired from the last fight and they were destroying it again but it wouldn't be Fairy Tail. The sight of it all put her in a good mood but she was out of it.

"Lucy are you alright?" Mira asked from behind the bar. "You've been sipping on that drink for the last twenty minutes. I'm sure it's cold by now."

Lucy smiled gently at her. "I'm fine Mira. I just have some things on my mind." It had been just about a year after she had left the house and she was wondering how everyone was doing and how her father was treating them. "I probably just need to sleep." She got up from the bar and started heading towards the door, dodging the brawling guild members on her way.

"Feel better." Mira called to her. As she wiped down the bar she noticed Lucy had forgotten her bag. "Ah Lucy-!" It was too late; she had left the building.

"Mira what's wrong?" Erza came up to her after knocking both Natsu and Gray out and thus calming the guild a little.

"Lucy left her bag here." She glanced at it.

"That's not like her." Gray said as he came to the bar.

"Yeah she's not like all the other dumb blondes." Natsu said with a cheeky smile as he laid his head on the bar.

"She's probably the original." Happy added as he hovered above them.

"Be more considerate of your teammates!" Erza punched both of them back into a table over turning it and consequently starting up the brawl once more.

Mira's face saddened ever so slightly as she took the bag in hand. "I think something's bothering her. She didn't seem like herself at all. Could you take this to her and try to cheer her up?"

"Of course we will." Erza took the bag and left the guild.

* * *

Lucy walked towards her house with her head down in thought. What if the servants were being treated wrongly after she left? What if they were fired because they let her leave? Was it wrong for her to leave in the first place? She sighed and hung her head. She could always go back and check but she didn't want to face the consequences of her actions.

"Lucy-chan that's dangerous." The boatmen called to her as they usually did.

She snapped out of her thoughts and noticed that if she kept going the angel she was going then she would've stepped right into the water. She corrected herself and kept walking. She needed something to get her mind off of everything. Perhaps she should've stayed at the guild or convinced Natsu to go on a job or maybe she really did just need to sleep everything off to get her mind off it. When she got to her apartment she reached for her bag for her key only to find it wasn't hanging from her shoulder.

_You've got to be kidding._ She huffed in annoyance. The one thing she had and she forgot it which ended up leaving her no way to enter. She had a slight thought of going in through the window like Natsu and Happy but quickly pushed it out of mind. She sighed and started her trek back towards the guild but instead of going back the way she came, she took a detour though a small, nearby park. She didn't know why she chose that way but instantly regretted it when she heard a voice behind her.

"This is what you're going with your life now?" She slowly turned and froze when she saw her father in a cloak behind her.

"Father." Her voice was barely a whisper and was quivering with fear.

"Lucy." Her father's tone was dark and he started to walk towards her. "I could handle the being late and improper answers; I could even handle the poor way you dressed." He was standing face to face with her. "But running away is the one thing I will _not_ tolerate." His face was dark.

_You couldn't handle any of that._ "Father I-" She was cut off as her head whipped to the side and a pain ran across her cheek.

"I did not permit you to speak." He grabbed her wrist. "You will come back to the mansion where you will live your life as the heir to the Heartfilia inheritance and you will be punished accordingly." He started to pull her along.

At first she walked with him, still stunned from the sudden slap she received but then resisted. "I-I'm not going back with you. This is my life now." She couldn't believe those words came out of her mouth. "I live here now and have friends." She was surprised, to say the least, when her father stopped and dropped her wrist. "I will not be going back with you."

It happened in an instant; Jude whipped around and backhanded her with such force it actually made her fall to the ground. She held her cheek in pain and went wide-eyed as her father loomed over her. Her breathing hitched and her eyes starting to sting from the tears forming.

"I did _not_ permit you to speak." She was at his mercy and was too terrified to make any moves. He leaned down and gripped her chin. "You are _my _daughter." He stood back up then kicked her in the stomach. "You lived under _my_ roof your whole life, leaching off me." Another kick. "Then you decide you want to just up and leave without as much as a _thank you." _He bent down to her level again and gripped her chin. "You ungrateful brat." He slapped her once more. He then took her key pouch which made her panic. "You'll never be like your mother." He put the pouch in his back pocket.

"My keys!" She reached for them only to have her father stomp on her head. Lucy didn't know what to do. She couldn't move and was too scared to say anything in her defense and with her keys taken she lost hope of being able to do anything. She just laid there in a ball covering her head while her father continued to beat her, hoping that she would at least lose consciousness but thought that if she did he would take the advantage and take her back.

"I never did want a daughter." Jude's words were filled with malice and the impacts got harder.

She wanted it to stop and she wanted to forget every bad memory of her and her father. There were some good ones, mainly when her mother was still alive but good ones nonetheless. That's what she wanted to go back to if anything but she knew it couldn't be like that. She just wanted it to stop- and just like that it did. She opened her eyes to see her father on the ground holding his face in a similar manor as she was and three people standing between them.

"Who are you and what the hell do you think you're doing to our friend?" Natsu's voice was venomous.

"I didn't think the scum had gotten as low as to picking on girls while they're out on their own." Gray bit.

"You've got some nerve picking a fight with a member of Fairy Tail." Erza spat out.

"Lucy are you alright?" Happy flew down to her.

"H-Happy…" Her voice cracked. She was overjoyed to see the four of them. She hid her face in her arms and started crying tears both of relief and agony. She didn't have to worry anymore.

"I don't know who you think you are-" Her father stood up. "But this is a family matter. Leave."

"This definitely concerns us then because _we're_ her family." Erza firmly stated.

Gray went and helped Lucy into a sitting position, minding her injuries. It pained the four of them to see their friend bloodied and broken by an unknown assailant. "Lucy is this guy for real?"

Lucy nodded tearfully but instantly regretted it. The amount of pain that went from her head through her body was unlike anything she felt before. "He's my father." Her voice was barely audible.

"Your father?" Natsu's pupils dilated and his face became dark. "How could anyone, let alone a _family member_ do this to his own daughter?"

Jude glared at Natsu. "She deserved it. She expects she can just run away an-" His sentence was cut short when Natsu sent him flying back a few feet and made Lucy's keys fall from his pocket.

"_Don't ever say that. You come walking into our town and beat our friend because she left an abusive household and expect me to listen to you say __**she deserves it**__?"_ Natsu was to the point where steam was radiating from his body and his fists had small flames emanating from them.

"_And_ you plan on stealing from her as well." Erza walked over and picked up the keys then stood over him. "Fairy Tail- is an enemy you don't want to make. You're going to leave Magnolia, _alone_, and you're never going to set foot here again and if you do, we will pay you back tenfold for what you've done to Lucy."

Jude got up and scowled past Erza to Lucy but was met with Gray and Happy glaring back in front of her. He scoffed then started walking away. _This isn't the last of it._

The four of them stayed that way until he was completely out of sight and Natsu even more so. He kept watch until the steam around him and the fire on his fists died down then stopped. When they did he finally took his eyes from Jude's leaving point and turned to face Lucy. Erza was trying to check her vitals while Gray was looking over the external injuries.

"She most likely has a concussion and possible internal bleeding." Erza stood up.

"We need to get her back to the guild." Gray said as he gently tried to help her stand.

The amount of agony and sorrow on Lucy's face made Natsu's blood boil. There was nothing more he wanted to do than go show Jude what happens when someone messes with their friends but he suppressed it because helping Lucy took top priority. He went over and knelt on the ground. "Come on. Let's go home."

Gray and Erza helped Lucy onto Natsu's back and they started their trek back to the guild. When they got there they were bombarded with questions, mainly who and where the person who did it was because they were equally as eager to pay them back for what they did. Makarov was the main one asking. Erza and Gray stayed behind to talk to him while Natsu took Lucy to the infirmary and stated tending to her.

"Lucy, was that man really your father?" Natsu asked as he wiped the dirt and tears from her face. He seemed to calm down a bit but his voice was still full of malice. Lucy nodded silently and flinched slightly from the pain. "What kind of person would do this to their own child?" His voice was filled with sorrow and anger.

"It wasn't always like this." Lucy quietly replied.

"It should have _never_ been like that. How long was it before you left?" Natsu thought he hit on something he shouldn't have seeing as more tears started to fall. "Sorry, if you don't want to talk about it-"

"Mama died when I was real little." She wiped away the tears. "For the first few years after, it was like it was before; I almost never saw him because he was working but as the years went on I started to see him almost daily and one day it was like something inside of him snapped and he-" She paused for a breath. "It's just around the year mark since I left."

Natsu was stunned to say the least. "You- couldn't ask anyone for help?"

"My father is one of the richest and most powerful men in Fiore." Her tone was void of emotion. "Even if I tried he would use his influences to make it stop. The servants knew the truth and several had confronted him on the matter but I started to notice marks on them too and found out that he had threatened to ruin them and their families if they tried anything so I told them to stop."

"Well aren't you going to ask for help now?" Natsu's voice seemed a bit happier and left Lucy confused. "I mean you're with us now. There's no way he can do anything that will ruin us even if he's as influential as you say because- we're Fairy Tail and that's what we do; we look out for each other because we're family." He put on his usual stupid smile. "This is your home now."

Lucy met his smile with one of her own. He was right; Fairy Tail was her home and all the members in it were her family and she knew they would do anything to help her if she needed it. She wasn't going to run anymore because she didn't need to, not when Fairy Tail had her back.

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**Bleh. Stupid ending. Oh my god that was bad. Some sort of prelude to Phantom Arc or something.**

**Did you guys like it? First Fairy Tail story, taking a break from Prince of Tennis. Also first relatively normal one shot I guess. Meh I'll get back into it when I feel like it. Tell me if you guys liked it.**

**Forgive spelling and grammar and corniness and stupidness and bad endings and I'm sorry.**

**See ya later!**


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